Don’t Gouge Your Brother
23: 19-20
Don’t Gouge your brother DIG: What was the typical interest rate in the ancient Near East? Why did ADONAI forbid Jews charging interest to other Jews when lending them money, or food or anything that may be loaned for interest? Why were they allowed to charge interest to foreigners?
REFLECT: Some of our modern giant financial institutions grew out of smaller, local networks of self-help and mutual assistance, built upon relationships of family or neighborhood trust. What can you do to restore a biblical approach and ethics to business?
Financial prosperity from God can be a blessing to others; the secret is an unselfish spirit.
Deuteronomy 19:1 to 26:15 (to see link click Dl – The Social and Family Commandments) deals with individual mitzvot, and to today’s readers they might appear irrelevant at first, but the very principles behind these commandments were the ones that have brought dignity to mankind. We need to examine these mitzvot in depth to discover the spirit in which they were given, so that we can still live in obedience to God’s Word today. For example, in Numbers 18, the Israelites were to bring their tithes to the Tabernacle because the priests and Levites had no inheritance. But today we have no Temple and no priesthood; however, we bring our tithes to our place of worship. That is the spirit of the mitzvah.
From 23:15 to 26:15, Moses deals with twenty real life situations that the nation would need to function in a godly manner, and valuable lessons for us today as well: number three.
No interest for the Jew: You are not to charge excessive interest to your brother – on money, food or anything that may be loaned for interest (23:19). This is the third passage in the five books of Moses that deal with the issue of charging interest on loans (Exodus 22:25; Leviticus 25:36-37). Although the other passages focus on the poor and the needy (the most likely to suffer from interest-bearing loans), this passage encompasses all Israelites in the ban against charging interest. Exodus and Leviticus mention loans of only money and food, but here, anything that may be loaned for interest is included.
In the modern world, bank loans, commercial loans, and so on, have become part of daily life, so it is easy for the modern reader of Deuteronomy to assume this ban relates to such practices. At the time that Moshe wrote Deuteronomy, however, Isra’el’s society was not based on a complex commercial and financial structure. Loans were normally made in an attempt to survive. This mitzvah prevented the hard-hearted from exploiting the less fortunate during hard times. But the person receiving the loan would provide some collateral to the lender, signifying his intention of repaying the loan.
This ban against charging interest was unparalleled in the ancient Near East, where interest rates could vary between 20 and 50 percent.505 The man wealthy enough to make a loan would be wealthy only because of the gracious provision of God; if, then, he lent something on interest (money or food) to a fellow Israelite in a crisis, he would be abusing God’s provision. He should lend freely, without interest, thereby reflecting his own thankfulness to YHVH, and receiving the continued blessing from Him.506 In short, financial profit was not to be the ruling factor for the way Jews treated each other.
Interest for the Foreigner: The foreigner (Hebrew: from the root nokri), however, stood in a different position. He was a trader or a merchant, not a farmer as were most of the Israelites. In addition, he was not a member of the covenant community, and his loan would have been for business purposes. To seek a profit. As a result, Moshe declared: To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you are not to charge interest, so that ADONAI your God may bless you in every undertaking of your hand on the land you are going in to possess (23:20).
Maintaining a difference between lending practices involving foreigners and fellow Israelites was a tangible way for God’s people to demonstrate their distinctiveness by carefully treating each other with unparalleled justice and equity. The ban on charging interest was thus confined to the family of Isra’el.
Dear wise, generous and loving Heavenly Father, Your giving heart is amazing! You give so much more than things. You give Yourself in a wonderful caring relationship (John 1:12). Thank You for the joy of giving back to You. Praise You that You don’t just look at the amount of the gift, You look at the amount of the gift in proportion to all that we have. The point is this: whoever sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully (Second Corinthians 9:6). You gave so much, when you willingly chose to put on human form (Philippians 2:5-11) so you could redeem mankind by being the Lamb of God (John 1:29), our sacrificial offering for our sins (Second Corinthians 5:21). When we try to save here on earth, it will soon be gone for You are returning soon; but when we send gifts ahead to the bank of heaven, the benefits are out of this world! We love to give to You because You are so wonderful! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen
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